THE MIRACLE I NEED : Episode 61 – 70
EPISODE 67
“So?” Kimberly asked after they returned home and Wumi had left them.
“So what?” Eric asked as he headed for the refrigerator to pick up a bottle of water.
“What do you think about her? She’s cool, right?” Kimberly asked, watching Eric with interest as she followed him into the kitchen.
“Yeah she is. She seems smart too.” Eric said distractedly as he opened the refrigerator, took out a bottle of water and gulped it down.
“I bet you wish you had met her before me.” Kimberly said, making Eric suddenly chuckle as he turned to look at her.
“What are you thinking right now?”
“I noticed the way you both were talking and looking at each other. I could tell you found her attractive and she finds you attractive too.” Kimberly said, making Eric roll his eyes. Women were just very complicated creatures.
“It’s all in your head. She is beautiful no doubt, but I’m not interested in her the way you think. Now enough of that nonsense, let’s go relax.” Eric placed a hand over her shoulder as he led her out of the kitchen but Kimberly wasn’t feeling very convinced.
“If you’re not interested in her the way I think, then how are you interested in her?” Kimberly asked again.
“Let’s just say, she is like a sister to me. I see her like my younger sister and that is just it. Besides, she said she has a boyfriend, remember?” Eric reminded her as he kept leading her to the living room, “Since we are on the subject, you should probably call her to make sure she got home safely.” Eric suggested, wanting to distract her.
“Right. Give me a minute.” Kimberly said as she picked up her phone and dialed Wumi’s line. A moment later she returned to his side, “She stopped over at a salon to fix her hair.” Kimberly announced as she dropped on the seat beside Eric.
“I was just thinking about something. Yesterday you were upset about me keeping my family from you, but weren’t you the one who made it clear on your terms and conditions that my family doesn’t have to be involved?” Eric pointed out.
“Well, that was before you said we should make it a real arrangement.” Kimberly countered, “Besides you already altered almost everything I wrote there. You act like we are a real couple even when we are alone, you canceled the open relationship thing even though you’ve refused to touch me.” She pointed out.
“So you now want family and mother in-law drama? What if she starts asking you to give her grandchildren like they do in Nollywood movies?” Eric asked trying not to smile at the thought of that while Kimberly blinked up at him.
“Is she like that? She’s not as troublesome as Patience Ozokwor, is she?”
“What if she is? You could easily chase her out of your house anyway, after all it’s not her son’s house.” Eric said with a shrug.
THE MIRACLE I NEED : Episode 61 – 70
Kimberly frowned at him, “Why will I do such a thing? As long as we are married it’s also your house and I can’t treat your mother that way. So maybe you could just tell her we are taking our time, and will give her grandkids after we’ve spent a year loving ourselves. You could say you don’t want to share my attention with kids yet.” Kimberly suggested thoughtfully.
“Yeah. That makes sense. So how many kids would you like us to have?” Eric asked making Kimberly look at him in surprise.
“I thought we were just playing around with it? We can’t have kids, you know…”
“Yeah. I know.” Eric cut her off, “But this is something married couples discuss, besides you never can tell where we might be asked such a question. So no harm in talking about it.” Eric assured her with a smile.
“So just assume we are actually married for real. How many kids would you like us to have?” Eric asked again, making Kimberly pause as she considered the question thoughtfully.
“Two. Just a pair of twins.” Kimberly said after sometime.
“Why?” Eric asked, trying to understand her.
“Well, I don’t want to have just one kid since it’ll be too lonely for him or her. I was an only kid, and I feel I probably wouldn’t have… you know… turned out this way had I had a sibling who was always with me. So I’d like to have two kids who would have each other’s back. And then since I’m not sure I would want to experience that labour room experience twice, I’d rather do it just once by having twins.” Kimberly said with a smile, like she had it all figured out.
“So what if you only end up having one on the first try?”
“Well, I heard with In Vitro fertilization, chances of having twins is increased. So I’d rather go for that. Smart, right?” She asked with a grin.
“Yeah. I’d love to have three kids. Hopefully two girls and a boy. I don’t mind the order in which they’re born.”
“Yeah, because you’re not the one who is going to carry the pregnancy.” Kimberly muttered.
“Don’t worry about it, my wife won’t complain.”
“I thought I was your wife?” Kimberly asked with a slightly raised brow, making Eric chuckle.
“I was talking about the real wife I’d get married to.” Eric said making Kimberly’s heart skip a beat. He was already thinking far ahead to when he would get married to someone else?
“That reminds me, I’ve been meaning to ask you something. When the one year is over, how do you intend to explain our divorce to your family?” Eric asked thoughtfully making Kimberly look away. She had been trying to avoid this particular topic since she doubted he was going to agree to her painting a bad image of him to the public.
Seeing how was she fidgeting, Eric could guess he wasn’t going to like what she had planned out, “I’m listening.” He reminded her.
“Can we not talk about it right now?” She asked in a pleading tone as she squirmed under his scrutiny.
“Seeing how you’re trying to escape it, I suggest we talk about it.” Eric said without taking his eyes off her.
“Well, the plan was to accuse you of being unfaithful and domestically violent and…”
“No! I won’t have that.” Eric said with a shake of his head before she could finish. He knew he had no plans of even ending their marriage arrangement, but he wanted her to get that sort of thought out of her head.
“I know.” Kimberly said with a sigh.
“So?” Eric asked.
“We could come up with something later. It’s still a year away, anyway.” Kimberly said making Eric nod.
“If it ever happens that we have to separate, we can just say it didn’t work. You don’t have to speak ill of me, and I don’t have to speak ill of you either.” Eric said, but Kimberly already stopped listening after the first line.
Did he just say “IF” it ever happens? Did that mean he was haboring the possibility of not ending things with her?
THE MIRACLE I NEED : Episode 61 – 70
_____________
Wumi pretended to be reading a magazine as her feet was being treated, while she enjoyed the different gossips going on around her. She couldn’t believe how much gossip she must have missed out on because her mother didn’t like going to salons to fix her hair. She was beginning to wish she hadn’t made receiving home services her lifestyle like her mother.
Since her arrival at the salon over two hours ago, different set of ladies had come and gone while she remained there requesting for one service after another. She knew they wouldn’t ask her to leave since they were busy making money anyway. She had started with a manicure, and then had her hair restyled, but was now having a pedicure while waiting for Amaka to show up. She was going to have a complete makeover if that was what it would take to hang around until Amaka finally shows up for her hair appointment.
THE MIRACLE I NEED : Episode 61 – 70
Her attention got diverted to the ladies who just walked into the salon some minutes ago and were seated across from her, when she heard what or rather who they were discussing. She observed that they looked like they were in their late thirties or early forties, before returning her attention to the magazine on her lap so as not to draw any attention to herself while she listened to them.
“I’m telling you! That one is just so unnecessarily full of herself. I wish she even had a good dress sense, but no! She dresses anyhow she likes in those inferior clothes and yet wants to be associated with us. What a joke!” One of the ladies said, and her two friends laughed out loud.
“What are you expecting from a nobody who got lucky by getting married to a politician? She lacks class! Did you even see that aba material she wore the other time at Madam Howell’s birthday party? I wanted to die of embarrassment!” One contributed.
“Why do you think I kept leaving the table to snap my selfies?” The other one asked with a giggle.
“That reminds me, my sister In-law’s husband said he went to the same University with her. She actually left her boyfriend of three years to marry the senator who is old enough to be her father. Things people do for money sha!” The second lady said with a shake of her head.
“You wouldn’t be saying that if you were in her shoes.” The third lady countered with a giggle.
Judging by their tone, Wumi could tell that they were from wealthy homes and had equally gotten married to wealthy men since they were all wearing diamond wedding rings.
“Why isn’t she here yet? I’m dying to ask her about her stepdaughter’s secret marriage. Do you think it’s true? What man in his right senses would marry someone like her?” The first lady asked.
“Probably a golddigger?”
“Or someone crazy enough to have fallen in love with her. I wonder how long it’s going to last.”
If Wumi had any doubt that they had been talking about Amaka, by now the doubt had been cleared completely. Her mouth itched to give a savage response in defense of both Kimberly and her brother, but she had to refrain herself for the greater cause.
As though on cue Amaka walked into the salon and all conversation about her ceased as they all started giving her a warm welcome, reminding Wumi why she had chosen Eric as her best friend. He was the only person she could trust to never speak ill of her in her absence, apart from her parents of course.
This was the first time Wumi was seeing Amaka in person, so she paid close attention to her and gave her outfit a once over. The clothes seemed like something she had gotten from Aba, so she could understand why her friends were of the opinion that she had a poor taste in clothes, seeing how they were all dressed in designer clothes… But she couldn’t see anything wrong in wearing a made in Nigeria outfit.
“Your dress looks beautiful.” One of the ladies complimented her making Amaka smile.
“Thanks. I buy my clothes from my sister. I could connect you to her if you want one.” Amaka said with a proud smile thinking the compliment was genuine.
“Oh! No wonder.” The lady said, exchanging an amused look with the others who were trying not to laugh.
Wumi was impressed by the professionalism of the staff of the salon. She couldn’t imagine what it must be like to see and hear things like this without exposing or blackmailing the ladies.
“We read about your husband’s daughter. Did she really get married?” The first lady jumped right at it.
“I’m just as surprised as you are.” Amaka said with a stiff smile before turning to the girl who was standing in front of her waiting for her go-ahead. It seemed to Wumi like the ladies only gathered there to gossip since their hair and nails were actually not looking bad.
“So who is she married to? Probably a golddigger, right? That has to be the only reason he secretly married her.” Another said, making Amaka look at them haughtily. She could tell they were looking for gossip, but they weren’t going to get it from her, especially not when the man involved was Eric.
“Probably. Please redo my nails.” Amaka said to the girl in front of her with a kind smile.
“So what is your husband going to do about it?” One of the ladies asked, after exchanging a look with the others.
“Well, we will just have to wait and see how it goes.” Amaka said with an indifferent shrug making it clear she wasn’t interested in the subject.
THE MIRACLE I NEED : Episode 61 – 70
Wumi decided she had been quiet enough, and it was time to do what she had come for. So she picked up her phone and placed it on airplane mode before setting her alarm tone so it would ring out in a minute. The last thing she wanted was a call coming into her phone when she was faking a phone call.
“Babe wassup?” She asked loud enough to catch their attention, “Sorry I’m shouting, I’m in the salon and can’t step out since I’m having a pedicure.” She said before raising her head to smile apologetically at the ladies who were now looking in her direction.
“Yes, I saw it on instablog. Really? What kind of lady dumps her man to marry an older man and then tries to come back into his life years later? I don’t care if he is marrying her stepdaughter! She has no right to try something like that. I will expose her if she tries it!” Wumi said, and then glanced at Amaka who was looking at her in puzzlement, and gave her a pointed smile, letting her know the phone call was for her benefit.
“Let me call you back.” Wumi said and dropped the phone on her lap before looking at the ladies who were now watching her with interest. She could tell they wanted gossip, and she was there to give them something to gossip about.
“Sorry about that. By the way my name is Omowunmi Obasan.” Wumi said, without taking her eyes off Amaka whose face now registered surprise.
“Obasan? As in daughter of Chief Obasan of iGlobal?” One of the ladies asked excitedly, and Wumi gave her a single nod.
With eyes still fixed on Amaka, she stepped out of the pedicure machine and wore her pam slippers, disregarding the protest from the young lady who was attending to her, “I suppose you’re Amaka? Wife of Senator Abamba?” She asked as she approached her.
THE MIRACLE I NEED : Episode 61 – 70
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